PTE Training: Priyanka’s E2Language PTE Success Story

Sign up for a Free Trial! Prepare for PTE, OET, IELTS, and TOEFL Exam anytime, anywhere. Get a high score on your exam with E2Language’s full online English Test Preparation Courses.

This E2Language PTE training article contains some complex and unique English expressions (idioms).

These expressions are hyperlinked to their definitions to help you if necessary. Make sure you click on an idiom if you do not understand it!

Priyanka began her E2Language PTE training with us in early November, and unfortunately she came to us with an all-too-familiar story. A resident of Chennai, she works for an American multinational corporation and wants to migrate to Australia with her husband. Aiming for a minimum of 65 in every communicative skill, Priyanka had taken the Pearson Test of English four times since last February. She was educated in English, works in English every day, has many of her social interactions in English and regularly reads books and journals in English.

Despite being educated in English and using it in daily life, Priyanka repeatedly failed the PTE speaking section.

Priyanka’s First Attempts:

In January, in anticipation of her first test, she bought the blue and green covered ‘Official Guide to PTE Academic’. She was disappointed to discover that, while her overall score was 67, her speaking result was a mere 48. Unperturbed, Priyanka immediately applied for another test two weeks later. She went back to the blue Pearson book to prepare a little bit more, then went back to the same test centre for a second bite at the cherry. This time, Priyanka was shocked to discover that her score remained almost unchanged: 69 overall, and 50 in the speaking section.

Priyanka’s husband urged her to enrol in a PTE course at a local English school, which she did. The hours were not ideal, since her job requires her to be at the office at 8am and she cannot leave until after 6pm. Traffic and unpredictable meetings meant she almost never made it to class on time. Still, she tried her hardest for the duration of the four-week course and re-sat her test. Imagine how crushed she was to get exactly the same overall result as before, with a slightly worse result in her speaking! Priyanka was crushed. Investing in three tests, one book and a four-week course over three months, as well as the time she had put aside to study, all to no avail was unbearable. Her husband was outwardly trying to keep his cool, but having got 72 on his first attempt at the PTE, he was getting nervous.

On her fourth attempt, Priyanka did not even tell her husband. Believing that somehow fate had dealt her a bad hand in her previous tests (“Perhaps the questions were just exceptionally difficult in those PTEs?” “Maybe the system was rigged?”) she did no preparation and booked herself for a test at the earliest opportunity. Once again, failure. Priyanka was disappointed. She was unable to sleep and even missed a couple of days of work due to the stress. Her dream of moving to Australia with her husband was crumbling before her eyes, all because of the speaking section of the PTE.

How Priyanka Found Our E2Language PTE Training Course:

In late August, when Priyanka was almost at her breaking point, she decided to do a quick search for PTE training material on YouTube. It had not occurred to her to look online for help before, but Jay’s webinar on Describe Image was exactly what she needed. She went to our website and registered for free to our E2Language PTE training course before having a free information session, which is when I first ‘met’ her.

It was Jay’s E2Language PTE “Describe Image” Webinar that changed the game for Priyanka. Watch it here by clicking the screenshot.

Priyanka told me her tale of woe and her desperation was clear. After a few minutes of talking her down from the metaphorical ledge, I suggested she take one of our packages. Obviously, her focus was on improving her speaking; in every one of her previous tests she had scored over 65 in each of the other skills. I mentioned several issues which are commonly experienced by south Asian speakers of English taking the PTE.

The five key things to remember are:

Do not speak too quickly: adopt a speed which you can maintain for the duration of the test.

Do not mumble: if the computer cannot hear you, the computer cannot mark you.

Make sure your enunciation of words is clear: where does one word end and the next word begin?

Make sure your tone sounds natural: you should not sound like a robot.

Avoid all hesitations, umms and aahs: these are fatal to your speaking score.

South Asians like Priyanka are surrounded by English all the time. If it is not their first language, it practically is: at work, at play, at school, everywhere. But be warned! Constantly speaking, reading, writing and listening to English on a regular basis does not a test taker make. The algorithm that marks your speaking does not care whether you are from South America, south Asia or South Australia, so treat it with respect.

I also told Priyanka to take a very deep breath and not to fret. She had until the first semester of 2017 to obtain the PTE result she needed, so there was no need to rush her preparations and risk yet another failure. She and I had a shared objective: that her next PTE would be her last!

Priyanka’s E2Language PTE Training was a success!

As it turned out, participating in our webinars, practicing and recording herself every day, in addition to the two 1:1 tutorials she took with E2Language made all the difference. Priyanka retook the PTE in November and achieved an overall score of 78, including 71 in the speaking.

Priyanka’s story is not unusual. You need only look at the testimonials on the E2Language Facebook page to realise that. Being properly prepared for the PTE, learning our methods and knowing how to tackle all 20 sections of this challenging test makes all the difference in the world.

Follow this article for more PTE preparation advice, tips and practice from an English native speaker.

Is your story similar to Priyanka’s? Are you desperate to pass the PTE and discouraged by your past attempts? We can help. Share your story with us in the comments below.

Swathi Mandasays:

Wendysays:

Hi, I just want to say thank to E2Language. I have a similar background in English like Priyanka’s.
After deciding to give PTE-A a try, I watched only free webinars by E2Language on Youtube which, luckily, were about difficult test questions such as describing image, summarising written text and writing essay. Jay was such an experienced instructor. I learned his methods to tackle those questions and could answer them all in my first test. Before watching the webinars, I did not know how to respond to describing-image questions; and the 3-second-silence-means-a-complete-answer stopped the recording before I could say anything.
Webinar watching was my main preparation for the test; and my results were 65+ for every component. E2Language saved me in speaking and writing components!

Kaia Myers-Stewartsays:

That is so wonderful to hear, well done!! And thank you so much for leaving your feedback here- it makes us feel proud of what we do and reminds us why we do it. Best of luck to you in the future and CONGRATULATIONS on your PTE success! 😀 😀 😀

Tulip Dassays:

I am Tulip Das from India, I am planning to apply for Australia PR for which I need 65 in all 4 sections of PTE. I gave twice in month of Dec 2016 but I scored less than 65 in speaking and reading. Now i am planning to try for IELTS. I referred e2 Language free course ware while preparing for my second attempt but it only helped me to improve my writing and listening scores but I couldn’t improve my speaking and reading missed it it by only couple of points and its really frustrating.

Kaia Myers-Stewartsays:

I’m sorry to hear about your frustrations! Before you switch to IELTS, have you thought about doing a paid course with us? Our free content is great, but there is only a very limited amount of it- whereas when you sign up to an E2Language PTE course you get one-on-one tutoring and support, study plan building, and full access to all of our extensive webinars, video lessons and practice questions. We also conduct speaking assessments, which are scored with the same criteria as the real PTE exam. This – along with tutorials with a PTE expert who can help you with your personal struggles and challenges along the way- could be the extra boost you need for your speaking and reading scores. Free content can only get you so far if you don’t understand what’s going wrong in these sections, and it sounds like you could use some support in figuring that out! We’d be happy to help!

IELTS is a different test with a different format- it’s not always an easy switch for those who are accustomed to the PTE. You should absolutely do what you need to do- but make sure you do your research about how IELTS and PTE differ, and that you give yourself plenty of preparation time to study for IELTS if you do make the switch.If you decide on IELTS- we also have paid IELTS courses and free IELTS content on Youtube, this blog and our free trial course. 🙂

Rajan Kumarsays:

My name is Rajan and i am from India. I have given PTE -A 2 times but i was not able to get the sufficient score that is 65 in each section. I am so much frustrated and i think my dream never comes true. Could you please suggest me what will i do?/

Kaiasays:

I’m sorry to hear that you haven’t yet received a 65 in each PTE section! I can understand how frustrated you must be. 🙁 I would suggest that you send us an email at hello@blog.e2language.come2language.com. Provide us the with the following information:

1. Your previous scorecards from the PTE
2. A small overview of why you need to take PTE, and the date you intend to take the PTE again
3. A brief description of what you found most difficult about your last PTE attempts

With this information, one of our awesome duty tutors can help you decide which of our courses will best support you and get you to your PTE 65. Don’t give up hope, I know it can be incredibly frustrating, but you can and will get there, it’s not impossible. You can do this!!

Also, please make sure you check out all of our freely available resources if you haven’t already:

Puspasays:

Hi Kaia
My name is puspa from indonesia.i have taken pte last month and the result my speaking is 50 while 3 others average around 72. Do you think i can score 79 in all aspects for PR application and which paid e2 language is suitable for my condition?thanks

Abhiramsays:

Payamsays:

Hi, my name is Payam and here is my story.
I am graduated nurse from one of the university in Au and living and speaking English daily.
Unlike other friends my speaking score was not a issue and always scored around 70, but my main problem is writing which is lower than 65 always.
I took OET x3 and then moved to PTE last year. My second attempt of PTE with only 2 weeks preparation with E2 language budget plan was my best score W64 S67 R66 L61, but I need 65 every component. I took PTE 5X more after that and my score was keep declined to not even reach 60 except speaking. Recently I upgraded my packaged to gold. Honestly I have no idea what’s my problem and how can I help my self anymore. Graduated already but I can’t work in my dream job because of English exam. I would appreciate if you could look at my case and guide me through. It’s almost 7 months I’m study for PTE.